Golf: How the man behind the player can hold the key to victory

By Chris Murphy, CNN

Updated 8:31 AM ET, Tue August 5, 2014

Meet golf's Mr. 30%8 photos

Mr 30% – According to new research, a caddie can improve a golfer's performance by 30% or more if their relationship is strong. One successful partnership is between three-time major champion Padraig Harrington and his right-hand man, Ronan Flood.

Hide Caption

1 of 8

Meet golf's Mr. 30%8 photos

In the zone – Harrington credits Flood with winning him the British Open in 2007. With a one-shot lead going down the last, Harrington found the water twice. But Flood talked him back into the zone and he went on to win his first major by way of a playoff.

Hide Caption

2 of 8

Meet golf's Mr. 30%8 photos

Open for business – The following year the pair repeated the feat as Harrington retained his British Open crown thanks to a four-shot victory at Royal Birkdale. "It's all about creating your own reality when you're on the golf course," the Irishman said of his relationship with Flood.

Hide Caption

3 of 8

Meet golf's Mr. 30%8 photos

Where there's a Williams – Tiger Woods and his former caddie Steve Williams enjoyed a very fruitful partnership. Woods won 13 of his 14 majors with the Kiwi on his bag and hasn't claimed another since they parted ways in 2011.

Hide Caption

4 of 8

Meet golf's Mr. 30%8 photos

Great Scott – Williams was then picked up by Australian Adam Scott who ended his long wait for a major title at the 2013 Masters. Williams reveled in that victory. "Every player requires different things -- the most important role is basically getting your man around the course best you can," Williams said of his job.

Hide Caption

5 of 8

Meet golf's Mr. 30%8 photos

Managing Bubba – Ted Scott has the task of keeping the notoriously emotional Bubba Watson in check. The 2012 and 2014 Masters champion wears his heart on his sleeve and Scott told CNN: "You don't want him to get too excited, or too mad. It's about trying to watch him and getting back to that middle point where he plays his best."

Hide Caption

6 of 8

Meet golf's Mr. 30%8 photos

Come here you – Martin Kaymer embraces caddie Craig Connelly after winning this year's U.S. Open. Research from Loughborough University underlined four pillars of a player/caddie relationship: closeness, including trust and respect, commitment, being complementary as well as open, and co-orientation, which hinges on shared knowledge and understanding.

Hide Caption

7 of 8

Meet golf's Mr. 30%8 photos

Feeling Woosy – It doesn't always go to plan, though. Welshman Ian Woosnam was tied for the lead in the 2001 British Open when his caddie Miles Byrne informed him he'd packed one too many clubs in his bag. A two-shot penalty ensued and Woosnam eventually finished third. He fired Byrne two weeks later.

Hide Caption

8 of 8

Story highlights

New research claims a caddie can help boost a golfer's performance by 30% or more

Four important pillars of relationship built around closeness and commitment

Padraig Harrington credits caddie Ronan Flood with winning him the 2007 Open

Tiger Woods won 13 of his 14 major titles with caddie Steve Williams on his bag

You are the one hitting the shots, but the man standing over your shoulder could hold the key to your golfing destiny.

A caddie can often be dismissed as just an accessory whose sole role is to lump a golfer's clubs round the course and occasionally throw a few speculative blades of grass into the wind.

But new research by a leading university suggests a caddie could prove the difference between success and failure.

So when the world's best golfers line up for 2014's final major at the U.S. PGA Championship, take a moment to study the person by their side.

"It's simple. In 2007 my caddie Ronan Flood won me the British Open," said three-time major champion Padraig Harrington.

Just Watched

Bubba Watson on shaping shots

His relationship with Flood was critical in that glut of success, underlined by a pair of YouTube videos to support the study in which Harrington's caddie helped him hole a shot from 150 yards while blindfolded.

That was part of the research commissioned by HSBC and carried out by Loughborough University, which says a good caddie can boost a golfer's performance by 30% or more.

According to Dr Sophia Jowett, the Director of Research Degrees at Loughborough, the axis between player and caddie must be built around four central pillars.

First is closeness, including trust and respect, commitment, being complementary as well as open and co-orientation, which hinges on shared knowledge and understanding.

Those qualities are, of course, allied to the nuts and bolts of the job.

Any caddie must know the game and their employer inside out, study the course and the wind conditions, have food and water available, as well as be able to tell the odd joke here and there.

But fundamentally, according to the top players, you just need someone you get on with.

Just Watched

A golfing history of Royal Liverpool

"We're like brothers, brothers that Mom and Dad left alone -- and they left him in charge," Ted Scott previously told CNN of his relationship with two-time Masters champion Bubba Watson.

"Sometimes I just want to punch him, but I love him. And I know he feels the same about me. But don't let anybody else say anything bad about us. We'll go into battle for each other."

Watson notoriously wears his heart on his sleeve while out on the course, and his maverick approach to the game often sees him attempt shots other pros wouldn't even contemplate.

A case in point is the shot that set up his first Masters victory in 2012, as he somehow managed to maneuver the ball onto the green from a position deep in the trees of Augusta's 10th hole during a playoff with Louis Oosthuizen.

So how does Scott keep Watson's emotions in check?

"It takes a long time to learn someone. And that's the art of caddieing -- you have to learn your player," Scott says. "For Bubba it's about keeping him in the middle emotionally.

"You don't want him to get too excited, or too mad. He's extremely emotional. It's about trying to watch him and getting back to that middle point where he plays his best."

One of the most potent player-caddie relationships of recent times was between Tiger Woods and Steve Williams.

Williams is now right hand man for Australian Adam Scott, who grabbed his first major title at The Masters in 2013, fulfilling years of potential.

"If caddies are just carrying the bag, then players would just hire a local caddie," Williams told the PGA Tour.

"Every player requires different things -- the most important role is basically getting your man around the course best you can.

"You have to have the best understanding of the course all the time so you can try to prevent errors.

"There are always going to be errors, but caddies can give the right information and prevent a lot of errors. But we all know the player hits the shots."

The ultimate pressure might be on the player, but there are a few examples of a caddie only adding to their stress levels.

Miles Byrne was caddying for 1991 Masters champion Ian Woosnam at the British Open in 2001 when he realized he had 15 clubs in the bag rather than the permitted 14.

Woosnam, who was in contention for the title at the time and eventually finished third, hurled the offending club into the rough when Byrne informed him of the error and sacked him a few weeks later.

Thankfully, there were no such dramas this time round.

Playing in his first major championship during this year's tournament at Royal Liverpool was home favorite John Singleton.

The factory resin worker thought his chances of a pro career had vanished after injury curtailed his progress as a youngster but took his place at Hoylake through a qualifying tournament -- a victory he put down in large part to assistance from his caddy Ally Haddow.

"He's the reason I was at The Open. He did a top notch job when I qualified," Singleton told CNN, prior to teeing off at Hoylake.